DeWitt, N.Y. -- Carrier was a major part of the Central New York manufacturing scene when the air conditioning maker was independently owned, employing up to 7,000 people in the Syracuse suburb of DeWitt.

Since United Technologies Corp. acquired the company in 1979, however, Carrier's Central New York footprint has shrunk considerably.

First, UTC moved Carrier's headquarters from DeWitt to its own headquarters near Hartford, Conn. In 2004, Carrier ended manufacturing in DeWitt. Five years later, it closed a warehouse operation here.

Carrier still employs about 1,300 people in DeWitt, where it operates a research and design center. But that's far less than the 7,000 it employed locally in the late 1970s, when it was one of Central New York's largest private employers.

UTC announced Monday that it plans to split into three companies, a move that means Carrier will be an independent company once again.

The three companies will be an aerospace firm named United Technologies, an elevator and escalator maker named Otis, and Carrier, a leading maker of heating and air conditioning systems and other building products.

The split is expected to be completed in 2020. It's unclear what impact, if any, the change will have on Carrier's remaining operations in DeWitt, however.

It's highly unlikely that Carrier would resume manufacturing in DeWitt. The company demolished the large manufacturing buildings on its sprawling campus off Carrier Circle in 2011 at a cost of $14 million.

Carrier Corp. demolished its manufacturing buildings, including this one, on its campus in DeWitt in 2011. (Lauren Long | llong@syracuse.com)

Willis Carrier, who invented modern air conditioning, founded the company that bears his name in 1915, opening his first factory in New Jersey. During the Great Depression, he consolidated his operations from four locations in New Jersey to a former auto plant on South Geddes Street in Syracuse.

The company opened a large manufacturing complex off Thompson Road in DeWitt in 1947. When a traffic circle was built in front of the plant in the 1950s, it was named Carrier Circle.

When Syracuse University opened its domed sports stadium in 1980, it named it the Carrier Dome after the company donated $2.75 million towards its $27 million cost.

The DeWitt operations grew considerably over the decades. As people moved to formerly sparsely populated, hot areas of the country -- the south and southwest -- demand for air conditioning increased. The company generated $17.8 billion in sales in 2017.

Carrier workers leave the company's TR-1 manufacturing building in Dewitt in 1998. The building was demolished in 2011. (The Post-Standard)

Carrier's growth in DeWitt ended with the company's acquisition by UTC, however.

Local officials and unions often blamed UTC's acquisition of Carrier for the dramatic shrinkage of its DeWitt operations. With operations around the globe and top management in Connecticut, UTC had no particular loyalties to Central New York, they said.

But the company cited global market forces when it ended the manufacturing operation in 2004. It said it needed to move the manufacturing to Singapore, China and Georgia to be closer to its customers in Asia.

Carrier's headquarters are now Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where, for now, it is part of UTC's Climate, Controls & Security division.